Once while in the shipyard I noticed carpenters marking boards they had prepared for different parts of the ship. "S" was for the starboard side; "L" for the larboard side; "LA" for the larboard aft side; "LF" for larboard^* forward side; "SA" for starboard aft side; and "SF" for starboard forward side. I soon learned the letters and what they stood for. I began to copy the letters and said to myself, "If I can make four letters, I can make more."

I began to challenge those same street kids to beat me writing letters, and in this way I was able to learn from them. I would also copy words from that old spelling book.